As is known, an antenna is an essential element for every wireless communication device regardless of what type of wireless communication system the device is used in. The antenna provides a wireless interface for the wireless communication device, which may be a radio, cellular telephone, pager, station (for wireless local area network, wireless internet, et cetera). The particular type of wireless communication system, which prescribes the transmission frequencies, reception frequencies and power levels, dictates the performance requirements for the antenna.
Since most wireless communication devices are handheld or portable devices, each component comprising these devices must be small, efficient, economical and lightweight. The antenna is no exception; it too must be small, efficient, economical and lightweight. To achieve these requirements, many antenna have been developed having various structures including dipole, patch, inverted F, L, et cetera.
In recent years, fabricating an antenna on a printed circuit board has become popular for low power systems due to its low cost and low profile. Such printed circuit board antennas are shaped as rectangles, circles, triangles, or strips and may be modified with notches or slits. The particular shape of an antenna is typically based on the application. For example, an L shaped strip or meandering strips are typically used for wireless local area network applications.
To provide signals to and/or receive signals from a printed circuit board antenna, a feed is used. Such a feed may be a coaxial cable or printed transmission line feed. In most instances, the feed is considered part of an antenna assembly.
While the various types of antennas and corresponding shapes provide adequate antenna performance, they are not optimized to consume the smallest printed circuit board real estate possible nor are they optimized for maximum bandwidth. Therefore, a need exists for a printed antenna that optimizes both size (i.e., achieves smallest size possible) and bandwidth.